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Opportunity for All: Promoting Growth, Jobs, and Inclusiveness in the Arab World

Marrakesh, Morocco #Opportunity4MENA

January 29-30, 2018

Following up on the 2014 Amman conference "Building the Future: Jobs, Growth, & Fairness in the Arab World,” the Morocco conference aims to move the dial on discussions on inclusive growth in the Arab world from endorsement to execution. Participants from across the region's public, private, and non-official spheres will exchange their experiences and lessons on how to create more jobs by exploiting new sources of growth. They will address how to scale up opportunities for women and youth and promote entrepreneurship and innovation while embracing transparency and technology to unlock the region's potential.

News

▶Press Release: Statement by the International Monetary Fund, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and Arab Monetary Fund at the Conclusion of the Conference on Promoting Growth, Jobs, and Inclusiveness in the Arab World, January 30, 2018

▶Press Release: Statement by the IMF Managing Director on Meeting with the Mauritanian Authorities, January 30, 2018

Agenda - Day 1

Day 1 (Monday, January 29, 2018) is dedicated to Innovation Labs. The objective of these labs is to solicit stakeholders’ experience with impediments to growth and inclusiveness and to brainstorm on possible solutions and policy issues to be raised at the plenary sessions the following day.

1:00 pm

Welcome Remarks

• Jihad Azour, Director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, IMF

Jihad Azour has been the Director of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Middle East and Central Asia Department since March 2017. Mr. Azour served as Lebanon’s Finance Minister during 2005–08, during which time he coordinated the implementation of important reform initiatives at the national level and within the Finance Ministry. Before and since his time as finance minister, he held a wide range of posts in the private sector, including McKinsey and Booz and Co. where he served as vice president and senior executive advisor between 2009–13. Prior to joining the IMF, he was a managing partner at advisory and investment firm Inventis Partners.

1:30 pm

Innovation Lab 1: Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Arab World

Inspirational Speaker: Ayman Cheick-Lahlou, CEO, Cooper Pharma

Moderator/Rapporteur: Manal Wardé, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager, Middle East and North Africa, Oxfam

Manal Wardé is Oxfam’s Advocacy and Campaigns Manager for the Middle East and North Africa region. Based in Tunis, she served as Maghreb Director from 2012 to mid-2017, overseeing Oxfam programs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. She has long-term experience in the development sector as Oxfam Regional Director for West Africa, then for Southern Africa (2000–08), and with United Nations agencies in New York and Yemen (1993–97). Earlier in her career, she was engaged with the Association for the Development of Rural Capacities (a Lebanese non-governmental organization) and worked with the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (a think tank). She has had continuous engagement on women’s rights, fair trade policies, citizens’ engagement in governance and transparency, and democratization processes. Ms. Wardé holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Science Po Paris.

1:30 pm

Innovation Lab 2: Making Transparency Work for Inclusive Growth

Chair: Pierre Heilbronn, Vice President, Policy and Partnerships, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Pierre Heilbronn is Vice President, Policy and Partnerships, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). He has overall responsibility for the formulation, communication, coordination and implementation of the EBRD’s country and sector strategies, its policy engagement, technical cooperation assignments, and related initiatives upholding and supporting its transition mandate. Before joining the EBRD in November 2016, he was deputy chief of staff for France’s Minister of Economy and Finance. He supervised the devising and implementation of the economic strategy aimed at increasing the competitiveness of companies, restoring the credibility of public finances, improving the transparency of economic life, and opening up new opportunities for businesses and households. He was also directly involved in the implementation of the Juncker plan, the development policy agenda associated with the French presidency of COP21, and in banking and financial markets issues. Before that, he served as the European advisor of the French Prime Minister and, earlier in his career, assisted in the definition and creation of the European External Action Service. Mr. Heilbronn started his career in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Ministry of Finance. He graduated from the Institut d’Etudes politiques de Paris and the Ecole nationale d’administration. He holds a Master of Economics from Cambridge University and a Master of European studies from the College of Europe of Bruges. He also studied in Yale University and Georgetown University.

Olfa Soukri Cherif is a Member of Parliament of Tunisia and former rapporteur of the Committee on Finance. As a Vice Chair of the Global Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & International Monetary Fund, Ms. Cherif chairs its Middle East and North African regional chapter. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation, as well as a member of the French National Council for Development and International Solidarity as a foreign political leader. Before taking on her parliamentary duties, she was Lecturer in Economics at the University of Tunis El Manar and Assistant in Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, where she also studied. She has also served as a consultant for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and AIESEC Alumni President. Ms. Cherif holds an Executive MBA in Trade Policy from Harvard University School of Government.

Sawsan Gharaibeh is the co-founder and vice chairperson of Rasheed (Transparency International-Jordan), which is the leading civil society organization working on integrity and transparency in Jordan. She offers input into matters of transparency and integrity focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals, elections, health regulation, and the private sector. She has worked on governance and gender issues since 2003. In 2016, Ms. Gharaibeh co-authored an article entitled “A National Strategic Framework for Countering Violent Extremism in Jordan” published in the Columbia Journal of International Affairs. Ms. Gharaibeh is the recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship and the King Hussein Memorial Fulbright Scholarship. She has served on the Board of the Virginia Journal for International Law as well as the Review Committee for American Fulbright scholars to Jordan for 2010, 2011, and 2016. Ms. Gharaibeh holds an SJD from the University of Virginia and an LLM from Warwick University, United Kingdom.

Hady Amr is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, working on a range of socioeconomic and geopolitical issues facing the Middle East. A White House appointee and senior diplomat in the Obama Administration, he served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Middle East at the United States Agency for International Development and, most recently, as Deputy Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations focusing on economics and Gaza. Previously, he also served as the Founding Director of the Brookings Doha Center. He is the author of numerous publications including ‘State of the Arab Child’ published by UNICEF. He has contributed to television broadcasts on the BBC, and CNN, and has published in venues such as Foreign Policy, Newsweek, and the Washington Post. He is a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.

Samir Aita is the General Manager of A CONCEPT, President of the Cercle des Economistes arabes and Editor in Chief and General Manager of Le Monde diplomatique éditions arabes. Mr. Aita founded A Concept in 2000, a consulting firm in economy and information technologies. In 2005, he created Le Monde Diplomatique éditions arabes, in partnership with the French edition. He continues today to run the two companies. Within the framework of A Concept, he consulted for different international (UNDP, European Union, World Bank, ESCWA, ILO, etc.), for Arab countries’ governments (in finance and ICT), as well as for several industrial firms (cement, chemistry, energy and tourism). In 2009, he was elected President of the Cercle des Economistes Arabes and he is currently the president of the "Démocratie et Entraide en Syrie, Ghosn Zeitoun" association.

Khalid Alkhudair is an entrepreneur and founder and Chief Executive Officer of Glowork, an employment organization that has created thousands of jobs for women. He is the first Saudi Ashoka Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and an Endeavor Entrepreneur. At the age of 28, he became Chief Operating Officer–Markets at KPMG in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Commerce, with three Majors – Marketing, Human Resources, and Psychology – from St. Mary’s University in Canada, and has completed the Executive Education program in Leadership at the University if Yale and in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has been awarded, among others, the Chaillot Prize for Human Rights by the European Union, the King Salman Award for Entrepreneurship, and the EY Entrepreneur of the Year, and was ranked #3 Most Influential Arab by Arabian Business. Mr. Alkhudair also sits on various advisory boards, including the L'Oréal Global Panel of Critical Friends, the Global Agenda Council on the Middle East and North Africa Issues at the World Economic Forum, and is an AMENDS Fellow at the University of Stanford.

Mohamed El Dahshan is the founder of OXCON, a consulting firm focusing on fragile and post-conflict countries. He is also a non-resident Fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washinton, DC, and a co-founder of Afrilanthropy, a philanthropic advisory firm. Mr. El Dahshan has a decade of work experience in the development field, through international organizations, governments, and research institutions, including the United Nations, the African Development Bank, and the Harvard Center for International Development, working primarily in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular expertise on fragile and post-conflict states. Mr. El Dahshan was selected to be a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Expert Councils, and a United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellow. He is an award-winning writer and academic, and is listed as one of the "100 Africa Future Economic Leaders," as well as the "100 Most Powerful Arabs under 40" by various organizations. Mr. El Dahshan is a graduate of Oxford, Harvard, Sciences-Po Paris, and Cairo University..

5:00 pm

Coffee Break

Innovation Booth – Presentation by Hanane Rifai, Morocco

5:30 pm

Presentation of Findings of Innovation Labs

7:00 pm

Welcome Dinner

Remarks by Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, Director General and Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary Fund, and Presentation of Arab Youth Competition Awards

Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, a Saudi National, born in 1960, holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Oregon (1991). Before serving as Director General Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund, as of March 2014, Mr. Al Hamidy, was Vice Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) between 2009 and 2013. Mr. Al Hamidy also served as Deputy Governor for Technical Affairs at SAMA as well as Director General at Economic Research and Statistics and, earlier, as Director of Training, Research, and Information at the Institute of Banking. Earlier, he taught economics at the King Saud University. Mr. Al Hamidy was also a member of the Board of Executive Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund in 2003–13, as well as other organizations, including the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, Saudi Development Fund, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, Council of Cooperative Health Insurance, and Saudi Stock Exchange Co. Mr. Al Hamidy has participated in international meetings of the Group of Twenty, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank, as well as meetings of the Bank of International Settlements, Financial Stability Board, and Council of Islamic Financial Services Board. With his appointment as Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, Mr. Al Hamidy also holds the position of Chief Executive Chairman of the Board of the Arab Trade Financing Program.

• Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Christine Lagarde, born in Paris in 1956, completed high school in Le Havre and attended Holton Arms School in Bethesda (Maryland, USA). She then graduated from law school at University Paris X, and obtained a Master’s degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence. After being admitted as a lawyer to the Paris Bar, Christine Lagarde joined the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie as an associate, specializing in Labor, Anti-trust, and Mergers & Acquisitions. A member of the Executive Committee of the Firm in 1995, Christine Lagarde became the Chairman of the Global Executive Committee of Baker & McKenzie in 1999, and subsequently Chairman of the Global Strategic Committee in 2004. Christine Lagarde joined the French government in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. After a brief stint as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in June 2007 she became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G7 country. From July to December 2008, she also chaired the ECOFIN Council, which brings together Economics and Finance Ministers of the European Union, and helped foster international policies related to financial supervision, regulation, and strengthening global economic governance. As Chairman of the G20 when France took over its presidency for the year 2011, she set in motion a wide-ranging work agenda on the reform of the international monetary system. On July 5, 2011, Christine Lagarde became the eleventh Managing Director of the IMF, and the first woman to hold that position. On February 19, 2016, the IMF Executive Board selected her to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting on July 5, 2016. Christine Lagarde was named Officier in the Légion d'honneur in April 2012. A former member of the French national team for synchronized swimming, Christine Lagarde is the mother of two sons.

Agenda - Day 2

Day 2 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018) features three plenary sessions, a luncheon conversation, and a concluding high-level panel. The objective of these discussions is to share reform experiences, engage on issues raised by the innovation labs to develop views on practical solutions to overcome hurdles to implementation of inclusive growth policies. To encourage greater interaction, innovation booths will showcase young innovators during the coffee breaks.

8:45 am

Opening Remarks

• Saad Eddine El Otmani, Prime Minister, Kingdom of Morocco

On March 17, 2017, Saad Eddine El Otmani was appointed as Head of the Government of Morocco by His Majesty King Mohamed VI. Mr. El Otmani was born on January 16, 1956, in Inezegane, where he pursued his primary and secondary studies. He studied medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Casablanca and obtained a Doctorate in General Medicine in 1986, and received his specialized diploma in Psychiatry from the University Psychiatric Center in 1994 in the same city. He also graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Islamic Shariaa from the University of Shariaa in Agadir Ait Melloul in 1983 and then obtained his higher education degree in Al-fiqh and its origins from Dar El Hadith Al Hassania in 1987 in Rabat, and a postgraduate certificate in higher education in Islamic studies from the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Rabat in 1999). Mr. El Otmani practiced medicine as a General Practitioner from 1987 to 1990, and as a Psychiatrist at Berrechid Psychiatric Hospital from 1994 to 1997 before moving to the private sector. Mr. El Otmani served as Deputy Secretary General of the Party of Justice and Development (1999–2004) and as Secretary General of the party (April 2004–June 2008) before being assigned as President of the National Council of the party in 2008. He was also elected member of the House of Representatives for four successive terms between 1997 and 2016 and was assigned as vice president of the House of Representatives (2010–11), and vice president of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and National Defense within the same council (2001–02). Mr. El Otmani also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (2012–13). In addition, Mr. El Otmani assumed several responsibilities and duties, including the post of founding member of the “Movement for Reform and Renewal,“ member of the executive office of the “Movement for Unification and Reform” (1981–96), member of the executive office of the Association of Graduate Scholars of Dar El Hadith Al Hassania, and founding member of “the Moroccan Association for the History of Medicine.” He is also member of “the Ethics Committee for Biomedical Research” at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rabat (since 1990) and member of the “Hassan II Foundation for Scientific and Medical Research on Ramadan.” Mr. El Otmani has published several books and dozens of articles that have appeared in many national and international magazines. He has also served as a managing director of the magazine “al Furquan” (1990–2003) and was responsible for “al Furquan” publications. Mr. El Otmani is married and has three children.

• Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF

Christine Lagarde, born in Paris in 1956, completed high school in Le Havre and attended Holton Arms School in Bethesda (Maryland, USA). She then graduated from law school at University Paris X, and obtained a Master’s degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence. After being admitted as a lawyer to the Paris Bar, Christine Lagarde joined the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie as an associate, specializing in Labor, Anti-trust, and Mergers & Acquisitions. A member of the Executive Committee of the Firm in 1995, Christine Lagarde became the Chairman of the Global Executive Committee of Baker & McKenzie in 1999, and subsequently Chairman of the Global Strategic Committee in 2004. Christine Lagarde joined the French government in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. After a brief stint as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in June 2007 she became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G7 country. From July to December 2008, she also chaired the ECOFIN Council, which brings together Economics and Finance Ministers of the European Union, and helped foster international policies related to financial supervision, regulation, and strengthening global economic governance. As Chairman of the G20 when France took over its presidency for the year 2011, she set in motion a wide-ranging work agenda on the reform of the international monetary system. On July 5, 2011, Christine Lagarde became the eleventh Managing Director of the IMF, and the first woman to hold that position. On February 19, 2016, the IMF Executive Board selected her to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting on July 5, 2016. Christine Lagarde was named Officier in the Légion d'honneur in April 2012. A former member of the French national team for synchronized swimming, Christine Lagarde is the mother of two sons.

Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, a Saudi National, born in 1960, holds a Ph. D in Economics from the University of Oregon (1991). Before serving as Director General Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund, as of March 2014, Mr. Al Hamidy, was Vice Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) between 2009 and 2013. Mr. Al Hamidy also served as Deputy Governor for Technical Affairs at SAMA as well as Director General at Economic Research and Statistics and, earlier, as Director of Training, Research, and Information at the Institute of Banking. Earlier, he taught economics at the King Saud University. Mr. Al Hamidy was also a member of the Board of Executive Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund in 2003–13, as well as other organizations, including the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, Saudi Development Fund, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, Council of Cooperative Health Insurance, and Saudi Stock Exchange Co. (Tadawul). Mr. Al Hamidy has participated in international meetings of the Group of Twenty, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank, as well as meetings of the Bank of International Settlements, Financial Stability Board, and Council of Islamic Financial Services Board. With his appointment as Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, Mr. Al Hamidy also holds the position of Chief Executive Chairman of the Board of the Arab Trade Financing Program.

Youssef Chahed has been the Head of Government of Tunisia since 2016. Previously he was Secretary of State for Fishing from 2015 to 2016 and Minister of Local Affairs in 2016. He is a member of the Nidaa Tounes party. By profession he is an agricultural engineer, researcher and university professor. Born in Tunis in 1975, Youssef Chahed studied to become an agricultural engineer at the National Agricultural Institute of Tunisia, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1998. He then joined the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon in France. Mr. Chahed graduated in 1999, obtaining a postgraduate diploma in environmental economics and resource and in 2003 a PhD in Agricultural Economics under the direction of Jean-Christophe Bureau. Until 2009 he taught agricultural economics at the Higher Institute of Agriculture in France and in other countries as a visiting professor. He speaks Arabic, French, English and Italian fluently.

9:45 am

Plenary 1: Creating Jobs for Millions in the Arab World

Millions of youth will join the labor market over the next five years. This session will discuss “how” countries can generate jobs to absorb these new entrants by tapping into new sources and sectors of growth and how government can be an “enabler” in this process. Potential issues to be discussed include: how small and medium-sized enterprises can flourish on a broader scale; creating MENA’s Silicon Valley; plugging the Arab world into global value chains; revamping education to prepare youth for jobs.

Khalid Alkhudair is an entrepreneur and founder and Chief Executive Officer of Glowork, an employment organization that has created thousands of jobs for women. He is the first Saudi Ashoka Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and an Endeavor Entrepreneur. At the age of 28, he became Chief Operating Officer–Markets at KPMG in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Commerce, with three Majors – Marketing, Human Resources, and Psychology – from St. Mary’s University in Canada, and has completed the Executive Education program in Leadership at the University if Yale and in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has been awarded, among others, the Chaillot Prize for Human Rights by the European Union, the King Salman Award for Entrepreneurship, and the EY Entrepreneur of the Year, and was ranked #3 Most Influential Arab by Arabian Business. Mr. Alkhudair also sits on various advisory boards, including the L'Oréal Global Panel of Critical Friends, the Global Agenda Council on the Middle East and North Africa Issues at the World Economic Forum, and is an AMENDS Fellow at the University of Stanford.

Caroline Freund is the Director for Trade, Regional Integration, and Investment at the World Bank in January 2018. She was a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics from 2013 -17. Prior to that, she was Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, after working for nearly a decade in the International Trade Unit of the Research Department at the World Bank. She has also worked in the Research Departments of the International Monetary Fund and the International Finance Division of the Federal Reserve Board. Ms. Freund’s research examines international trade, trade policy, and economic growth. She is the author of Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging Market Tycoons and their Mega Firms. Ms. Freund was a member of the EXIM Bank advisory committee from 2014 to 2016. She is on the scientific committees of CEPII (Institute for Research of the International Economy, Paris), and the Economic Research Forum (Cairo), is a member of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and on the editorial board of the journal Economics and Politics. She received a PhD in economics from Columbia University.

• Nezha Hayat, Head of the Morocco Capital Market Authority and Regional VP of the International Organization of Securities Commission

• Marwan Juma, Chairman of the board, Kinz for Information Technology

Marwan Juma was the Jordanian Minister of Information and Communications Technology and, previously, Chief Executive Officer of Xpress Telecommunications, one of Jordan’s leading mobile operators. He is also the founder and Chairman of Sama for Integrated Systems, better known as dot.jo, one of Jordan’s leading web development houses, and Kinz for Information Technology, the country’s leading corporate data provider. In addition, Marwan is the founder Chairman of Oasis 500, the region’s leading IT fund and accelerator. He has held prominent positions in the past as CEO of Batelco Jordan, the country’s second fixed-line operator and leading data communication provider. In addition, he chaired the local chapter of the Young Arab Leaders Organization, the region’s leading nongovernmental organization focused on the youth of the region.

Juma serves on several prominent boards, including The King Abdullah II Fund for Development, the King Abdullah Center for Excellence in Government Performance and Transparency, Princess Sumaya University for Science and Technology, Al Mamlaka Television, Capital Investments and Jordan International Insurance among others. He served on the “National Agenda’s “Royal Steering Committee, entrusted with developing Jordan’s national strategy for the coming 10 years. Marwan was re-elected in mid-2009 as Chairman of INTAJ, but resigned following his ministerial appointment in late 2009. He is a founding contributor to the REACH Initiative, a five-year action plan to advance Jordan’s nascent information technology sector and strengthen its ability to compete in local, regional, and global markets. Marwan has lobbied for the establishment of a world-class telecom infrastructure in Jordan and for increased private-public partnerships to accelerate the country’s economic development. He holds an M.B.A. from North Carolina State University and bachelor’s degrees in business management and economics

• Ibrahim Manna, Managing Director of Emerging Markets, Careem

Ibrahim Manna, Managing Director of Emerging Markets, Careem, has always been passionate about entrepreneurship, starting his first venture at eighteen years old. He founded one of the region’s first on-demand delivery platforms, called Wheels Express, that delivered from up to 90 restaurants, on demand. Initially joining Careem as New Products Manager, promoted to General Manager of Emerging Markets in 2013, Mr. Manna is now the Managing Director of Emerging Markets, in charge of exploring opportunities in new countries and ensuring support for on-ground local teams. He also looks after expansion in these markets and overseeing their growth. Self-defined as a person with a passion for e-commerce and logistics, Mr. Manna enjoys the challenges of lateral market thinking. He is co-founder of a monthly event in Amman, titled “Tech Tuesday,” which gathers young entrepreneurs to share and discuss ideas and current projects. He enjoys fishing and traveling in his spare time.

Moderator:Lara Habib, Senior Business News Presenter, Al Arabiya

Lara Habib started her career as a research analyst in Blom Bank, which is one of the largest Lebanese banks. Three years later, she moved to CNBC Arabiya as a business presenter and then joined Al-Arabiya News Channel in 2006 as the presenter and producer of the first weekly television program that tackled the news, sensitive topics, and analysis of the Kuwaiti financial market. She returned to Dubai in 2008 to present “Aswaq al-Arabiya” programs, which are the main business bulletins that follow the daily performance of the Arab and international stock markets. During the course of her work, Ms. Habib has covered several conferences, including the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings in Davos, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)–World Bank meetings, the 3rd Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Summit, the 8th Gulf Cooperation Council Banking Conference, the 3rd World Future Energy Summit, and the 4th Global Competitiveness Forum. She has also moderated many panels in these conferences on topics of economic growth, oil trends, robotics, education, and the fourth industrial revolution. In addition, Ms. Habib has produced many reports on various issues, such as investing in art, the business of Broadway, and real estate in New York, as well as two documentaries on the future of work and manufacturing (in collaboration with the WEF). She has also interviewed some of the most influential people in the local and international business world, including IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, former World Bank Presidents Robert Zoellick and James Wolfenson, Cisco Chairman John Chambers, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell, GE Chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt, WEF Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab, and Emaar Chairman Mohammed Al-Abbar. Ms. Habib is of Lebanese origin, and holds a Master in Business Administration from the Lebanese American University in Beirut. She speaks Arabic, English, and French..

10:55 am

Coffee Break

Innovation Booth – Presentation by Afnan Kamel Ali, Jordan

11:15 am

Plenary 2: Scaling Up Inclusion and Opportunities in the Arab World

The session focuses on how to scale up economic opportunities for youth, women, and refugees—to drive growth and ensure its benefits are widely distributed. Potential issues for discussion include: how can Fintech promote financial access by youth, women and small and medium-sized enterprises; what is needed to empower women and enable their participation in the labor market; how can well-targeted social safety nets protect the vulnerable and empower them; and how can countries in conflict confront the challenges of youth employment and skills development.

Hala Fadel co-founded Leap Ventures in 2014 and has been a managing partner with the firm ever since. Prior to Leap Ventures, she was a portfolio manager for 12 years in European Equities at Comgest, a €20bn growth equity fund focused on investing in growth companies. She is the founder and chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the pan-Arab region, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship and organizes, among other things, the MIT Arab start-up competition. Most recently, the MIT Enterprise Forum organized the "Innovate for Refugees” competition, receiving over 1,300 technology solution applications. Fadel is also an angel investor in start-up companies in the Middle East and Europe. She co-founded and chairs Ruwwad Lebanon, a non-profit organization working on community development in disenfranchised areas through education and grassroots organizing. Fadel graduated from HEC in France with a Masters in Financial Economics and attended the Berkeley Haas School of Business.

• Janet Heckman, Managing Director for Southern & Eastern Asia, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Janet Heckman is Managing Director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She was appointed to this position in February 2017.
Based in Cairo, Ms Heckman is responsible for formulation and delivery of the EBRD strategy and business plan for this new region of operations covering Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. Ms. Heckman is also the EBRD Country Head for Egypt. An American national, Ms. Heckman joined the EBRD in July 2012 from Citi. During her tenure as Kazakhstan Country Director, she contributed to a significant increase in the EBRD’s footprint and impact on Kazakhstan, including an expansion of the EBRD network of local offices. She was also instrumental in designing and implementing a ground-breaking, multi-faceted Enhanced Partnership with the Government of Kazakhstan. Over her long career at Citi, Ms. Heckman was Managing Director for its corporate banking activities in Algeria and held many field roles in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Bahrain with a focus on corporate banking. She was also responsible for global relationship banking across Citi’s Central/ Eastern Europe/ Middle East/ Africa (CEEMEA) region and later for Europe/ Middle East/ Africa industrial clients and CEEMEA consumer industries and healthcare. Ms. Heckman holds a Master’s of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a BA in History from Kenyon College. She also studied at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon.

• Lobna Mohamed Helal, Deputy Governor, Central Bank, Egypt

Lobna Mohamed Helal started her career in banking and investment banking, when she assumed responsibilities at the Arab African International Bank, the Egyptian American Bank, and EFG–Hermes. In 2004, Ms. Helal joined the Central Bank of Egypt to develop and execute a full-fledged, two-phased Banking Sector Reform Program (2004–11). In November 2011, she was appointed as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt. Ms. Helal has represented the Central Bank of Egypt in several banking and governmental institutions. She sat on the Board of Directors of the Arab International Bank, the United Bank, the National Investment Bank, the Social Fund for Development, and the Mortgage Finance Authority. In March 2013, Ms. Helal was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of the Egyptian Mortgage Refinance Company, which is a specialized financial institution that provides refinancing to primary mortgage lenders. In June 2015, she was elected as the first Head of the Egyptian Mortgage Finance Union. In November 2015, a new Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Egypt was appointed by a presidential decree, whereby Ms. Helal was appointed as the Deputy Governor, responsible for Monetary Stability.

• Ashraf Sabry, Founder and CEO, Fawry Mobile Banking, Egypt

Ashraf Sabry is a technology business expert and the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fawry, currently Egypt’s largest electronic payment network. With 20 years of experience in finance and information technology, and a vision to enable nationwide electronic financial services, Mr. Sabry managed to establish Fawry as one of the fastest growing ventures in the Middle East. Prior to creating Fawry, Mr. Sabry spent 10 years leading sales at IBM Egypt and later was key to the success of Raya Holding, Egypt’s leading information and communications technology company, where he directed the operations, finance, and business development for a number of years before eventually leading the whole information technology line of business for the group.

Independent Radio and Television anchor, Faïçal Tadlaoui, is known for his daily citizen show on Atlantic Radio "The Experts" that he has been hosting for six years, as well as for his live daily television show of news analysis "60 Minutes to Understand" during the 2015–16 season. Moderator, MC, and director of institutional events, he also produces and hosts a radio/television show dedicated to innovation (Oser l’avenir: Dare the future) and has moderated more than 300 national and international conferences and debates in French and in English on various and varied subjects. He is launching his new daily television show called “Vue d’en haut” on the web in the next few weeks. He is also a musician (guitar and singer) and leader of The Moroccan Tribute to Pink Floyd.

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi is President of Zayed University, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) flagship regional leader institution in educational excellence, proudly bearing the name of the nation’s founding president, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Sheikha Lubna also holds the distinction of being the first Emirati woman to hold a ministerial post (2004), an achievement that put the UAE on the international map of female empowerment. Sheikha Lubna was entrusted with four ministerial positions, the latest as Minister of State for Tolerance (2016–17), the world’s first ministry to be created to promote the culture of tolerance on the world stage. With her unique brand of leadership, Sheikha Lubna was formerly appointed Minister of Economy (2004–08), Minister of Foreign Trade (2008–13) and Minister of International Cooperation and Development (2013–16). In addition to her portfolio responsibilities, Sheikha Lubna is the Vice Chairwoman of the Board of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, a distinguished member of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment, and Commissioner in the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. Sheikha Lubna served as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Tolerance. Sheikha Lubna is recipient of many international presidential medals and accolades.

• Hanan Ashrawi, PLO Executive Committee Member/PLC Member

Hanan Ashrawi is a distinguished Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process. Making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine, she was elected as member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 2009. As a civil society activist, she founded the Independent Commission for Human Rights, MIFTAH and AMAN. She serves on the advisory and international boards of several global, regional and local organizations, and she is the recipient of global awards and several academic accolades, including eleven honorary doctorates.

Miriem Bensalah-Chaqroun is one of North Africa’s most influential businesswomen. She is in charge of Groupe Holmarcom, one of Morocco’s biggest holding companies with operations in several sectors. Since May 2012, she has been President of the Moroccan Confederation of Businesses (Confédération Générale des Entreprises du Maroc) as well as the official representative of Morocco’s private sector, and the first woman in the Middle East to be elected and re-elected by her peers. Ms. Bensalah Chaqroun is also a member of several boards of directors, including the Bank Al Maghrib, Renault Monde, Suez Monde, Care International and the University of Al Akhawayn in Ifrane.

• Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF

Christine Lagarde, born in Paris in 1956, completed high school in Le Havre and attended Holton Arms School in Bethesda (Maryland, USA). She then graduated from law school at University Paris X, and obtained a Master’s degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence. After being admitted as a lawyer to the Paris Bar, Christine Lagarde joined the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie as an associate, specializing in Labor, Anti-trust, and Mergers & Acquisitions. A member of the Executive Committee of the Firm in 1995, Christine Lagarde became the Chairman of the Global Executive Committee of Baker & McKenzie in 1999, and subsequently Chairman of the Global Strategic Committee in 2004. Christine Lagarde joined the French government in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. After a brief stint as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in June 2007 she became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G7 country. From July to December 2008, she also chaired the ECOFIN Council, which brings together Economics and Finance Ministers of the European Union, and helped foster international policies related to financial supervision, regulation, and strengthening global economic governance. As Chairman of the G20 when France took over its presidency for the year 2011, she set in motion a wide-ranging work agenda on the reform of the international monetary system. On July 5, 2011, Christine Lagarde became the eleventh Managing Director of the IMF, and the first woman to hold that position. On February 19, 2016, the IMF Executive Board selected her to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting on July 5, 2016. Christine Lagarde was named Officier in the Légion d'honneur in April 2012. A former member of the French national team for synchronized swimming, Christine Lagarde is the mother of two sons.

Samar Samir Mezghanni is a Tunisian/Iraqi writer with two records in Guinness Book for World Records as the youngest writer and the most prolific writer in the world. She has written over a hundred of short stories for children and published 14 books. Her stories were quoted by the Chair of the Nobel Prize committee at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in 2015. Ms. Mezghanni has received many awards and certifications for her work. She was recently selected as one of the 17 United Nations Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals amongst 18 000 candidates. She was classified as one of the most influential Arab women in 2013 and one of the most important young leaders in the Arab region in 2012. She has delivered speeches in over 20 countries. Ms. Mezghanni is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge.

This session discusses how governments can re-direct their policies and budgets to foster private sector activity and promote greater inclusiveness. Potential issues for discussion include what governments can do to: prepare youth for work via smarter education spending; build infrastructure for growth and trade; design pro-growth and fair revenue sources; improve transparency and accountability; and ensure adequate social protection.

Manar Al Moneef is the President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Renewable Energy in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey region. She leads a broad renewable energy portfolio that includes on-shore wind, off-shore wind, hydro, and concentrated solar power. She is responsible for driving the growth and operational excellence of GE Renewable Energy, bringing together technology, services, and digital solutions across the entire spectrum of renewable energy development. Prior to her current position, Ms. Al Moneef was the Chief Growth Officer for GE in the region and held various commercial and operational leadership roles globally and regionally in healthcare, global growth organization, and oil and gas. Prior to joining GE, Ms. Al Moneef was Director General of Health Care & Life Sciences at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, where she led all healthcare and life sciences investments in Saudi Arabia and the positioning of Saudi Arabia globally as a premier investment destination. Ms. Al Moneef has a Doctoral Degree in Molecular Oncology from Leicester University and a Master Degree in Molecular Medicine form Cambridge University, United Kingdom and boasts numerous publications in the field of molecular medicine, healthcare, and life science strategies.

Azza Al Suwaidi has worked since 2012 as Director of the Revenue Development Department of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Finance (MoF), where Ms. Al Suwaidi has served since 2003 in a number positions which included: BOD of the Federal Tax Authority, BOD of the ARAB MINING CO, BOD of Arab Potash, Deputy Director of Revenue Development Department, Head of the General Taxes Division, Project Manager of Implementing Taxes in the UAE, and Member of the Country Team for the Project to Implement VAT in the UAE and GCC. Ms. Al Suwaidi has a bachelor's degree in business administration and a higher diploma in business administration, and she graduated from the United Arab Emirates Leaders Program (UAEGLP Future Leaders Program).

• Ahmed Kouchouk, Vice Minister of Finance, Egypt

• Taoufik Rajhi, Minister of Major Reforms, Tunisia

Taoufik Rajhi is Tunisia’s Minister of Major Reforms. He is an expert in the field of international economic development. Mr. Rajhi was Associate Professor at the University of France and worked at the African Development Bank, where he held several responsibilities in the field of economic development. Mr. Rajhi also taught economics at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-La Sorbonne and is the author of several publications on macroeconomics and growth. He is also President and Founder of the Circle of Economists of Tunisia.

Lubna Bouza is the Acting Chief Editor of Business News at Sky News Arabia TV based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She has led the coverage of global and regional financial stories for nearly seven years and interviewed a wide range of regional and international leaders, including International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde; Billionaire Bill Gates; World Bank President Jim Yong Kim; Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company HRH Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud; Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland; HE Abdulla Ensour, Prime Minster of Jordan; Billionaire Najib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of Orascom Telecom Holding; Shephard W. Hill, President, Boeing International; HE Anas Al- Saleh, Minister of Finance of Kuwait; HE Mohamed Boussaid, Minister of Finance and Economy of Morocco; and Chairman of Emaar Properties Mohammed Al Abbar, among others. She has also covered and reported from major international events and conferences, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Meetings, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, and the "Building the Future" conference in Jordan. Ms. Bouza joined Sky News Arabia from CNBC Arabia. She holds a Master of Applied Finance and Banking and a Master Degree in International Business Administration (with emphasis on Economics) from the University of Wollongong–Australia.

Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, a Saudi National, born in 1960, holds a Ph. D in Economics from the University of Oregon (1991). Before serving as Director General Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund, as of March 2014, Mr. Al Hamidy, was Vice Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) between 2009 and 2013. Mr. Al Hamidy also served as Deputy Governor for Technical Affairs at SAMA as well as Director General at Economic Research and Statistics and, earlier, as Director of Training, Research, and Information at the Institute of Banking. Earlier, he taught economics at the King Saud University. Mr. Al Hamidy was also a member of the Board of Executive Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund in 2003–13, as well as other organizations, including the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, Saudi Development Fund, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, Council of Cooperative Health Insurance, and Saudi Stock Exchange Co. (Tadawul). Mr. Al Hamidy has participated in international meetings of the Group of Twenty, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank, as well as meetings of the Bank of International Settlements, Financial Stability Board, and Council of Islamic Financial Services Board. With his appointment as Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, Mr. Al Hamidy also holds the position of Chief Executive Chairman of the Board of the Arab Trade Financing Program.

• Mohammad Y. Al-Hashel, Governor, Central Bank of Kuwait

• Mohamed Boussaid, Minister of Economy and Finance, Morocco

Mohamed Boussaid was appointed by His Majesty the King Mohammed VI as Minister of Economy and Finance in October 2013. From 1986–95, Mr. Boussaid held various positions in the private sector. During 1995–2004, he held several senior official positions in Morocco, including at the Ministry of Public Works; the Ministry of Agriculture, Infrastructure and Environment; and at the Ministry of Finance and Privatization. In 2004, he was appointed Minister in charge of the Modernization of the Public Sector, and in October 2007, Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts. In March 2010, Mr. Boussaid was appointed Wali of Souss-Massa-Draa, Governor of the Prefecture of Agadir Ida Outanane and Wali of the Grand Casablanca region, Governor of the Prefecture of Casablanca, in May 2012. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC), Paris, and a Master of Business Administration from the International School of Business, ENPC.

• Fadi Ghandour, Executive Chairman, Wamda Group

Fadi Ghandour is the Executive Chairman of Wamda Group, a venture capital fund and a platform that helps nurture and build entrepreneurship eco-systems in the Middle East and North Africa region. Mr. Ghandour is also the Founder and a Board Member of Aramex, one of the leading global logistics and transportation companies. He is a member of the Board of Abraaj Capital, the Board of Endeavor Global, and the Board of Trustees at the American University of Beirut. Additionally, he serves on the Advisory Council of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. Passionate about social entrepreneurship, Mr. Ghandour is the Founder and Chairman of Ruwwad for Development, a private‐sector led community empowerment initiative that helps disadvantaged communities across the region overcome marginalization through activism, civic engagement, education and financial inclusion.

Moderator: Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF

Christine Lagarde, born in Paris in 1956, completed high school in Le Havre and attended Holton Arms School in Bethesda (Maryland, USA). She then graduated from law school at University Paris X, and obtained a Master’s degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence. After being admitted as a lawyer to the Paris Bar, Christine Lagarde joined the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie as an associate, specializing in Labor, Anti-trust, and Mergers & Acquisitions. A member of the Executive Committee of the Firm in 1995, Christine Lagarde became the Chairman of the Global Executive Committee of Baker & McKenzie in 1999, and subsequently Chairman of the Global Strategic Committee in 2004. Christine Lagarde joined the French government in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. After a brief stint as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in June 2007 she became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G7 country. From July to December 2008, she also chaired the ECOFIN Council, which brings together Economics and Finance Ministers of the European Union, and helped foster international policies related to financial supervision, regulation, and strengthening global economic governance. As Chairman of the G20 when France took over its presidency for the year 2011, she set in motion a wide-ranging work agenda on the reform of the international monetary system. On July 5, 2011, Christine Lagarde became the eleventh Managing Director of the IMF, and the first woman to hold that position. On February 19, 2016, the IMF Executive Board selected her to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting on July 5, 2016. Christine Lagarde was named Officier in the Légion d'honneur in April 2012. A former member of the French national team for synchronized swimming, Christine Lagarde is the mother of two sons.